


higher education

by suddenlyatiger



Series: hell, I'm just a kid myself [5]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, parentfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:35:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25269205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suddenlyatiger/pseuds/suddenlyatiger
Summary: It's just a big thing for him, his baby boy starting school.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Series: hell, I'm just a kid myself [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799071
Comments: 41
Kudos: 487





	higher education

Stiles had already decided the night before that he wasn't going to cry.

So he appreciates Derek not saying anything in the morning when Stiles is packing Noah's lunch with tears streaming down his cheeks.

The time has finally come: Noah's first day of kindergarten. 'Big Boy School,' they've all been calling it.

Noah's pretty excited to go, and has spent most of the summer marching around with his new Spiderman backpack and matching lunchbox.

Stiles is excited for him. But he's also a bit sad because this is another milestone that Noah has reached that means he's growing up. He's definitely no longer the tiny baby first placed in his arms when Stiles was only 16 and terrified. He's five years old and ready to take on the world. Or, at least, elementary school.

"Anything interesting for lunch today?" Derek asks, wrapping his arms around Stiles' waist and nuzzling his face in the back of Stiles' neck.

"Fancy mac 'n' cheese," Stiles says, swiping at his face with his sleeve. "And surprise Oreos."

"What's so surprising about Oreos?" Derek asks.

"I'm hiding them under the yogurt cup," Stiles says.

"Sneaky," Derek says.

"Very," Stiles says. He closes the lunchbox and zips the lid. "Now I have to go wash my face so I don't scare the hell out of Noah when I go get him ready."

"You know he's going to be fine, right?" Derek asks.

"Yeah," Stiles says, heading for the stairs.

***

Noah has been in daycare since infancy. First because Stiles was in high school and couldn't care for him all day, and then because Stiles was in college and couldn't care for him all day. Stiles isn't worried about Noah having separation anxiety, or not adjusting to the schooling environment. He isn't really worried at all; he knows Noah is going to be fine.

It's just a big thing for him, his baby boy starting school.

Noah isn't a baby anymore, he's a _child_.

Where has the time gone?

***

Noah's bedroom is dark as Stiles creeps in. Noah is fast asleep in the bed, curled around a large stuffed wolf underneath an Avengers comforter. Stiles sits on the edge of the bed near Noah's head and starts running a hand through Noah's red hair. Noah snuffles in his sleep.

The brand new alarm clock that Noah had been so excited to set the night before will go off in about two minutes. Stiles sits on the bed for the entirety of those two minutes, lost in thought, and nearly jumps out of his skin when the alarm clock blares.

Noah snaps awake and sits up.

"Is morning?" He asks with a yawn. "Daddy?"

"Hey, Tiny Pants," Stiles says. "Do you remember what today is?" Noah knuckles at one eye with a fist and regards Stiles suspiciously with the other eye. Stiles smiles at him. Then Noah stiffens suddenly and a wide smile crosses his face.

"It's Big Boy School Day!" He shouts, scrambling out from underneath his comforter.

"That's right!" Stiles exclaims. Noah's enthusiasm is catching. "It's time to get up and get dressed and eat breakfast, and then me and Dad will take you to school."

"Yes!" Noah exclaims. And then he promptly falls out of the bed. He pops up to his feet a second later and races out of the room.

"Wait!" Stiles calls after him. "You forgot your clothes!"

***

Actually eating breakfast is a bit of a rushed affair because Noah spends a ridiculous amount of time making sure that his school bag is properly packed (with the ridiculous amount of school supplies kindergarteners apparently need these days).

"This crayon box has a pencil sharp'ner in the back," Noah says. He's dug the 64-pack of crayons out of his bag and is holding it up for Peter's inspection.

"Hmm," Peter says. "Quite ingenious."

"Quite," Noah parrots.

"Noah, put all that back in your bag and come eat, please," Stiles says from the table. "You'll be hungry later if you don't." Noah crams the crayon box in the bag and returns to the table, leaving a few pencils and erasers and things scattered on the floor around the bag.

"I swear those were all in a case," Derek says, looking down at the floor from his seat at the table. Noah scrambles up on his own chair and lets Stiles shovel a spoonful of eggs into his mouth.

"This case?" Peter asks. He holds up a plastic clear-bottomed pencil box that seems to be filled with Lego bricks. Peter shakes the box and the Lego rattles noisily against the plastic.

"Noah," Stiles groans.

"But what if kidnergarden doesn't have Legos?" Noah asks, pouting.

"I'm sure they have something," Stiles says. "Here, eat your eggs. Peter, gimme that." Stiles passes Noah his fork and Peter hands Stiles the pencil box. Stiles opens the box and dumps the Lego bricks out on the table to the soundtrack of Noah protesting.

"Daddyyyyyyy!" Noah whines.

"Nope," Stiles says. "Pretty sure you aren't allowed to bring extra toys with you. Especially Lego because those are easier to lose."

"I won't lose them!" Noah exclaims, stabbing into his eggs with his fork.

"Noah, you lose Lego pieces in the house," Stiles says. And he would definitely know. He finds enough of them hanging around. With his feet. Noah pouts at him. Derek checks the time on his phone.

"If we don't get a move on, you'll be late for your first day," Derek says.

"No!" Noah cries and starts plowing through his breakfast while Stiles straightens out his pencil box and school bag.

***

Noah sing-shouts along with the radio on the ride to Beacon Hills Elementary. Stiles secretly tapes it on his phone to send to his dad later. The sheriff has a morning shift and so is experiencing this new milestone through pictures and videos.

"Daddy, will Emma and Felix be there?" Noah suddenly asks.

"Yup," Stiles says. "And probably a few others from daycare."

"What about Miss Quinn?" Noah asks.

"No, she's still working at the daycare," Stiles says.

"We already met your new teacher," Derek pipes up from the driver's seat.

"Mr Perez," Noah says, nodding.

"He seemed nice," Stiles says. Derek makes a turn into the school zone, ending up behind a school bus.

"A school bus!" Noah exclaims, pointing.

"Yup," Stiles says.

"Why can't I go on the school bus?" Noah asks.

"The school buses don't drive out to our house," Stiles says.

"Aw."

Derek follows the bus until it turns into the bus lane, then he continues on to the parking lot. Soon, either Stiles or Derek will just be able to drive through the drop-off lane and let Noah out for a teaching assistant to collect. For this first day especially, they'll both be walking him to his classroom.

Stiles feels his throat tighten with emotion and Derek reaches over to squeeze his hand as he parks the car. Stiles squeezes back and looks over at Derek, who is smiling but whose eyes are also maybe a little bright.

"We're here!" Noah squeals, throwing his arms up.

"We are!" Stiles says, voice cracking a bit. He clears his throat. "Let's go in. I want to get a picture of you in front of the school to send to Grandpa."

***

Beacon Hills Elementary is nothing like Stiles remembers, which makes sense as it's changed a lot over the years. Derek and Stiles each take one of Noah's hands and they walk together to the kindergarten area, following the helpfully placed arrows on the wall.

It's a mild chaos outside Noah's classroom, with screaming and crying children, flustered parents, and one lone barking dog for whatever reason. Mr Perez suddenly appears out of nowhere and approaches them.

"Hi there!" He exclaims. He reaches out and shakes Derek's and then Stiles' hand. "You're all just in time. And you're" -he crouches down- "Noah, if I remember right." Noah suddenly goes a bit shy and tucks himself against Stiles' legs, nodding.

"And Noah is very excited to be starting kindergarten today," Stiles says.

Somewhere behind Mr Perez comes the cry of "NOAH!" and then Noah is ripping his hands out of Derek and Stiles' grip to greet his friends.

"Well," Mr Perez says, standing back to full height.

"Daddy! Dad! Look! It's Emma!" Noah calls from down the hall, where he's tangled up in a hug with a little blond girl.

"We see her," Derek says. "Hi, Emma." Emma waves wildly with one hand all the while she practically has Noah in a one-armed choke-hold. Stiles snaps a quick picture on his phone.

"First bell is in about five minutes," Mr Perez says. He hands something to Derek and starts backing up. "I have to go greet the other children now." Stiles looks over to see what Derek got; it's a sticker nametag with Noah's name on it.

"Cute," Stiles says. It's bordered with little dancing cats. "Be better if it had wolves on it, though." Derek snorts at him.

"Noah," Stiles calls over. "Come over here and put your nametag on." Noah rushes over with Emma, who Stiles can see has her own nametag stuck to her chest. Hers is bordered with rainbow confetti. Stiles takes the tag from Derek, removes the backing, and then sticks the tag to Noah's chest, right above his heart. Noah looks down at it.

"That's my name," he says.

"It's so your new friends will know who you are," Stiles says.

"Cool," Noah says.

"Come see where your lunch goes," Emma says. "You have to match the stickers." She takes Noah by the hand and practically drags him into the classroom. Derek and Stiles follow along. Stiles spots Emma's mother, who was a year ahead of him in school and  who he  only really knew through the daycare, and nods a greeting at her. She nods back.

Emma leads Noah to a wide shelf near the classroom door. There are already a few lunchboxes on it. Emma points to a bright pink My Little Pony lunchbox.

"That's mine," she announces. "And that's my sticker. See?" On the shelf under her lunchbox is a smaller version of the nametag currently on Emma's chest.

"Where's mine?" Noah asks. They check all the stickers for the dancing cats before Derek spots it on the bottom shelf. Noah shoves his lunchbox where it's supposed to go. That's when the school bell rings and then there's a flurry of activity as the stragglers arrive and other parents say their goodbyes and prepare to leave. Emma disappears to go to her mother.

"You gonna give us a hug before we go?" Stiles asks. He opens his arms and Noah leaps into them. Derek wraps his arms around the both of them. "We're gonna come pick you up this afternoon when school is over."

"Okay," Noah says.

"Love you," Stiles says. "Have a good day."

"Love you too," Noah says. "Love you too, Dad."

"Love you," Derek says and drops a kiss on Noah's head. Then they let him go and he runs off into the classroom to where the other children are starting to gather. Stiles and Derek back out of the classroom. Noah never looks back, which Stiles expected, honestly.

Derek throws an arm over Stiles' shoulders and hugs him to his side as they walk back to the car. Stiles wipes at his eyes as they go.

"He'll be fine," Derek says.

"Yeah," Stiles agrees.

***

***


End file.
